Make – Shashank Bangalore Lakshman

Engineering is logical, Art is intuitive. Making fuses both!
Shashank Lakshman

Making is a combination of two worlds, engineering and art! Making takes the simplest tools of engineering and art, fuse ideas to derive the most meaningful and innovative solutions.

I’ve been into making for a few years now, mainly romancing on the fringes of engineering and art; playing with open-source hardware and hacking with open-source software. Over the last couple of years, many people have asked me regarding the thought-process behind making. It is something about which I have thought quite often, yet comprehend too little. I find that there is more to discover with every new experience I achieve as a maker. In this tiny post, I will share the broadest picture of a maker, delving into the ‘Psychology of a maker’. I will share the 5 commandments of what makes a maker!

1) Think creatively: The greatest quality of a maker is ‘creativity’. While most of today’s engineering is driven more by logical decision making and art is driven more by intuitive decision making, ‘making’ derives both ideas into itself. A strong imagination and a creative mindset is critical to become a maker. Making is ‘delimiting oneself from constraints and thinking beyond the possible, all while remaining practical’. So, let go of the mind free and ‘making’ commences!

2) Zero inhibition: While engineering is inhibited by business decision making and art is inhibited by cultural norms or social prejudices, making carries no ‘bundles of burden’. Making is liberated from either bounds and hence, making is a zero inhibition activity. A true maker makes for the sake of it, and not merely to please others!

3) Timeless expression: Makers often exhibit contemporary ideas in facets from a different era. This makes making an activity of timeless human expression. To fuse ideas from different backgrounds, to merge materials from different sources and to coalesce sciences with the arts is the very essence of modern making.

4) Love the dark: Often makers are people who enjoy hacking into or breaking into stuff – physical and virtual. They love the dark, the unknown and the unseen. It does not scare them away, but it only kindles their inner child. Makers are ready to make assumptions, are not afraid of making mistakes. This sets them free, making them practical critical thinkers and pragmatic problem solvers.

5) Brave the struggle: Makers often seem to create wonderful things in a moment. People hardly notice the toil and suffering that the makers go through to arrive there. Their creative struggle is hardly appreciated. Yet, makers love the struggle. Struggle makes one try harder, try often, fail for sure, think creatively and succeed at the end! So, the makers ‘make to fail’ and finally ‘succeed to make’!

If one aspires to become a maker, these five qualities have to become their very constitution!

“It is human to consume, it is divine to make!”
Shashank Lakshman

In this post, I try to address the most common myths of making. These myths are the ones which stop people from venturing into the ~~dark~~ light! I’ve tried to debunk each common myth with a brief explanation. Reach out to me by comments or message in case you are not convinced 🙂

1) Maker movement was born with Arduino…
No! Humans have been keen makers since their birth in evolution. Some of the most fundamental inventions made by the human race came when we were cave-dwelling savages, running across the plains hunting prancing deer and unruly boars. It would be rational to even state that civilization came from ‘making’, from our ability to make homes out of stones (rise of team behavior), to create social structure and hierarchy (rise of organization and goal-setting) and to value each object against other objects (rise of the economics of bartering). Having said that, it is not wrong to give credit to Arduino for being the driving force of the modern maker movement! There are countless other examples that also contributed simultaneously to the modern maker movement!

2) We survive because we can consume…
Partly true! Although our economies are driven by large-scale demand and supply optimizations, we do not solely survive because we consume.
We are instinctively born to create (make) as well! Although our typical life projects us as mere consumers of products and services from a few, it should not be so. If our specie is to face the next environmental milestone successfully, we must all learn to make. Believe me when I say making does not have to be exploiting new resources! Making can be as subtle as recycling or reusing or re-purposing existing products to drive value of those components higher. Making is not just hardware, making is not just software. Making is a combination of every skill required to add value to the world. It is easier to be a consumer, it is at times intimidating to be a maker. But, try making, you’ll find great joy, happiness and prosperity in all paradigms of life.

3) A maker is an engineer…
No! Most common myth in the masses is that makers are engineers with spare time. This is blasphemous! Everyone is a maker as a human being, making is no secret magic trick of engineers. I’ve met makers who are artists, teachers, doctors, entrepreneurs, street-hawkers and many times, ones without a formal school education or fixed profession! That is the beauty of making, all you need is creativity, patience, few resources and ‘the will’

4) Makers are experienced people…
No! We all are born makers. Haven’t we come across kids building structures from lego, crafting airplane models with paper, cardboard and rubberbands? Yes, we have. Although the complexity of making or ideas comes with age and experience, there are no absolute barriers to start as a maker. I have a little niece who makes beautiful jewelry by paper quilling. She is an enterprising maker who understands no barriers and who is now inspiring her grandmother to try quilling!

5) Making is expensive…
Partly true! While most part of making involves few components and tools, sometimes it can get expensive too. Entry as a maker is now at a low-barrier than ever before in the history. Corporates are joining the bandwagon of open-source hardware and software. They are happily loaning/giving away their hardware and softwares for free! Every single tech conference seems to have moved from dumb water bottles and sticky notes to development kits, beacons, sample software and SaaS credits! It is time you hit the right places, meet the right people and get started. In my own experience, I’ve got access to tons of hardware for free, just because I was able to prove my passion for making, demonstrated my abilities through project demos and sometimes rough schematics/flowcharts on paper-napkins! To put it in better perspective, making is as expensive as pursuing a sport hobby! So, there can’t be ‘expensive’ reasons to prevent you from getting started.

6) Making needs profound knowledge…
No! On the contrary, making only needs curiosity to learn, ability to think creatively and will to drive ideas into solutions. All the other things just fall in place. The web is a treasure chest of resources and skills for makers. People are swarming into large virtual communities over hardware and software to help eachother. There are makerspaces in almost every major city in the world. If there is none, perhaps you should start one! There are successful examples to emulate when it comes to building a thriving maker community. Making needs more wisdom than knowledge! Making is a community activity, embrace all people and ideas. And, thou shall see light!

7) Making is hard…
Partly yes! Every new venture is bound to meet hurdles, every new idea is met with criticism. But, ain’t it the reason and motivation for all human success? Getting started in making will definitely feel like cold-starting a diesel engine in Arctic winter. But, once you gain momentum on ideas and troubleshooting skills, there is absolutely nothing to stop you from making! ‘Dream small, achieve big’ is the mantra for successful making. If you find making to be very tough as a starter, a good point to start is to become an assistant of an established maker. Not only do you get mentored, you will also have access to their ideas and tools! Find a mentor near you who is passionate about making. Once you develop your wings, it is easy to set sail on your own into the brighter environs of the maker world

While there are more questions in your minds, remember that ‘The suspense of not knowing the outcomes is the very soul of making’. Get started and soon you’ll be able to connect the dots! Happy making 🙂